Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An object that is surrounded by a magnetic field and that has the property, either natural or induced, of attracting iron or steel.
- noun An electromagnet.
- noun A person, a place, an object, or a situation that exerts attraction.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A body which possesses the property of attracting fragments of iron or steel, and which, when freely suspended, tends, under the action of the earth, to take a certain definite position, pointing approximately north and south.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The loadstone; a species of iron ore (the ferrosoferric or magnetic ore, Fe3O4) which has the property of attracting iron and some of its ores, and, when freely suspended, of pointing to the poles; -- called also
natural magnet . - noun (Physics) A bar or mass of steel or iron to which the peculiar properties of the loadstone have been imparted; -- called, in distinction from the loadstone, an
artificial magnet . - noun (Physics & Elec.) a magnet used for producing and maintaining a magnetic field; -- used especially of the stationary or exciting magnet of a dynamo or electromotor in distinction from that of the moving portion or armature.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A piece of material that attracts some
metals bymagnetism . - noun informal, figuratively, preceded by a noun A person or thing that attracts what is denoted by the preceding noun.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts
- noun (physics) a device that attracts iron and produces a magnetic field
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Such a magnet, with an armature closely approaching the poles, is called a _closed-circuit magnet_, since the only gap in the iron of the magnetic circuit is that across which the magnet pulls in attracting its armature.
Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. George Patterson 1910
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They come out here feeling that they have the advantage of two countries, and wherever their method of living seems the easiest, there the magnet is the strongest.
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"This bar is what they call a magnet," said he; "but all the magnetism is in the two ends."
Rollo's Experiments Jacob Abbott 1841
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Yet Derman tugs the reader along with limpid writing and curios such as the origin of the word "magnet" (from lodestones found in ancient Magnesia) and the Tetragrammaton (the name of the name of God, the four Hebrew letters usually transliterated as YHWH, or Yahweh).
unknown title 2011
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Aztec Middle College Northwest, which she described as a magnet school, for his senior year.
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Aztec Middle College Northwest, which she described as a magnet school, for his senior year.
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So were parents, particularly those of students in magnet schools admitted by audition or lottery in the School Choice program.
Brian Ross: The (Other) Palm Beach Story: Feds & States Tinkering with Education Get Unplanned Results Brian Ross 2010
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Though, if the magnet is powerful enough, you might not want to set it on the part of your laptop where the hard drive is (if you use a magnetic-media hard drive), just in case.
Combining Binder Clips And Magnets For Easy Cable Access | Lifehacker Australia 2010
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Finally, I glued the thin magnet on the bottom of my laptop and the other magnetic piece inside one end of the doorstops.
DIY Magnetic Doorstop Laptop Stand | Lifehacker Australia 2008
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When the North Pole of one magnet is brought close to the South Pole of another magnet, they attract each other.
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